By Mubasher Bukhari
LAHORE, June 30 (Reuters) – Fourteen children died after the roof of a tutoring centre collapsed in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday, rescue officials said, as authorities opened the way for a possible negligence investigation.
Punjab’s emergency service said rescuers found children and a 30-year-old female teacher under rubble of the private after-school facility.
The dead children were aged 5 to 16 with most below 9.
Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari said preliminary reports showed the tutoring centre was unregistered and operating inside a privately owned residential building under a dilapidated roof.
Such centres are common across Pakistan, where children attend extra lessons outside regular school hours.
“If negligence, carelessness or any violation of the law is established, those responsible will face strict legal action,” Bokhari said in a statement.
Bokhari said Punjab authorities had also been directed to survey unsafe buildings ahead of the monsoon season and introduce stricter rules for unregistered tutoring centres and private educational facilities.
President Asif Ali Zardari expressed grief over the deaths and called for effective safety measures to prevent such tragedies.
(Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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